The easy, “limit style” fishing of Spring is over, but fishing in the Summer can also be very good! You just have to change your tactics a little. The first thing you should do before you leave the house is to log onto Big Bear Municipal Water District’s website www.bbmwd.com, and click on current lake conditions. Then click on the Limnological Report.
The Limnological Report will show you the lake conditions from 5 different monitoring buoys placed down the middle of Big Bear Lake. The buoys are located at the boom line at the dam, in front of Papoose Bay, by the West Launch Ramp, in front of the Observatory; and near Juniper Point.
The three main things that you want to check out in the report that will help you catch more fish this Summer are the Secci reading 
which shows light penetration, water temperature, and D.O. (dissolved oxygen). If the Secci Reading is reads 10, then that means that sun light penetration is ten feet, and at mid-day, you will probably catch most or all of your fish “below” that depth. Trout being a cold water fish will seek out water temperatures between 58 & 66 degrees if it is available and food is present. The third, and really important thing to look at is the D.O. reading at different depths. Trout need at least 5 parts per million of dissolved oxygen to breath, so fishing below that depth is a waste of time!
So now let’s put all this information together. We are fishing near the West Ramp. Look at the report and it shows the Secci reading is 9. Now you know you want to fish at least ten feet deep. Next check the temperature. That shows the water is between 60 and 57 degrees from 9.84 feet to 22.96 feet deep which is perfect. Now check out the D.O. Reading which shows D.O. at 9.84 ft. of 6.6 and D.O. at 4.5 at 26.24 feet. The D.O. reading at 26.24 feet is not enough for trout to survive so with this information I know I want to troll my lures between 10 and 20 feet to have the best chance at catching fish!
The lures I’m having the best success with right now are Rapala’s in
F-3’s, CD -3’s, and Husky Jerks. Size #1 Needlefish, in Copper Chicken Wing, Pear Bikini, Brass Bikini, Fire Tiger, and Hot Banana. And Thomas Buoyant’s, in Copper, Gold, and Rainbow. Shore fisherman can also be successful if they fish early and late in the day, or even at night. Go to one of the marinas or sporting good stores and show you how to rig a slip bobber. Slip bobber allow you to fish from the surface the surface down which is exactly what you want to do. It will probably be best to set the slip bobbers to fish your bait from 8 to 15 feet down from the surface.
Best baits to fish on a slip bobber rig are Pautzke’s Fire Bait, Power Bait & Gulp, Night Crawlers, and Pautzke’s Salmon Egg’s.
Try these tips and I guarantee you will catch a lot more fish this summer!
